Workers of the youth wing of the ruling BJD today staged a dharna outside the Raj Bhavan in protest against rejection by the Centre of environment clearance for Vedanta's mining project in Niyamgiri hills. Criticising the decision of the Union Environment and Forest Ministry, the protestors accused the UPA government of trying to create obstacles to the state's industrialisation.
Charging the Centre with adopting a step-motherly approach towards Orissa, Biju Yuva Janata Dal chief Sanjay Dasburma told reporters the tribal-dominated Kalahandi district where Vedanta planned to mine bauxite remained backward due to neglect by the Congress.
The UPA government had also neglected the state in providing railway projects and in dealing with natural calamities like flood, he said. Activists of BJD's youth wing also staged a dharna in Jagatsinghpur.